The present invention relates to a technique for supporting intermediation such that it is possible to introduce a person conforming with a demand of a requesting person, in particular, a provider that can provide service (including provision of a commodity) conforming with a demand of a requesting person.
Conventionally, there has been an introduction service that introduces information conforming with a user's demand using a network such as Internet. One of such an introduction service is a search engine. A search engine searches for a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) associated with a search condition that coincides with or approximates to a search condition received from a user's terminal through a network, in a search database that stores URLs of Web pages in association with search conditions. Then, the search engine presents pieces of link information linked to the searched URLs onto the user's terminal. By selecting a piece of link information, the user can access the URL specified by that piece of link information, to browse the Web page of that URL.
Further, there exists service that provides an auction function through a network, in order to promote direct transactions of commodities or service between network participants themselves. By auctioning a commodity or service as an object of a transaction based on bidding prices, it is possible to match a seller and a buyer.